New Britain Museum of American Art

On Saturday, I visited the New Britain Museum of American Art. I must admit, I was not looking forward to going to this museum. American art is not my favorite, so my expectations for enjoying my trip were very low. To my surprise, I not only loved this museum, but I made sure to tell one of the staff that “this museum is the best one that I’ve been to.” Don’t get me wrong, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was fabulous, but who knew that New Britain held such a fabulous little jewel in its hand.

The museum which boasts the tagline, “Where art meets life”, was a small two story museum. The architecture is a piece of art itself consisting of an angular design. The sculptures which inhabit the front lawn and walkway prepare the visitor for an exciting and creative experience through art once inside. As soon as you walk into the museum, you’re greeted by a grayscale vertical mural. The design stands out against the bright yellow walls in the background. I hit the bathroom before I started on my quest, which I was already excited about. Even the bathroom had artwork on its walls! I looked up and saw a speckled, collage-like, whimsical design trailing around the room. I loved it.

The ground floor of the museum showcases more than 5,000 works of art dating back to the 18th century to the present. The periods that are represented include the Colonial period, the Hudson River Can School, genre painting, the American Impressions, the Ash Can School, the early moderns and works by contemporary artists. One of the most captivating pieces was a mural by Thomas Hart Benton. It hung in a room covering three walls. It depicted life in America through the eyes of Americans. The colors were opaque and intense. It seemed like the artist put a lot of thought into which details should be included in the mural. I can only imagine how much work was put into the piece.

As I made my way through the ground floor and up to the second floor, I stopped to enjoy the many pieces that decorated the foyer. There was mesmerizing pieces that hung on the walls. Many of them were portraits. Some done from charcoal, others from pastels, or paints. A beautiful charcoal drawing of a woman caught my attention. It was lovely. As I made my way to the stairs, I noticed a portrait of, what looked like a black man, with an afro. Toward the top of his head and hair there were three sets of eyes. What looked like broken glass was drawn as an outline to the painting. Understandably so, it was entitled “Paranoia”. If that weren’t enough, I shifted my gaze towards the stairs to take in a two story 3-d piece entitled “The Gravity of Color” by Lisa Hoke. It was enormous. When I moved closer, I saw that it was completely constructed of cups. Most of them were plastic cups that were painted on the inside. There were some paper cups that were included in the piece to give it a greater sense of depth and texture.

The second floor was the most modern part of the gallery. The main exhibit was illustrations from children’s books. The art was fabulous. Most of them were water colors, and the details, depth of color, and sharpness of the paintings were phenomenal. I was floored. I felt like a kid in a candy store. It was if I were in a dream, floating along from cloud to cloud watching individual stories take play out. I saw paintings of animals eating vegetables, houses under twilight skies, Eskimos, and astronauts. There was a huge piece demonstrating the devastation of 9/11. I didn’t realize the subject of the piece until I read the description and looked closer. The final piece on the second floor was a piece illustrating the ABC’s of America.

This museum had so much to look at. There different style pieces everywhere and boredom was NOT an option. We went back downstairs, and to my dismay, we had gone through the entire museum. I was shocked. I had gone from not wanting to come to New Britain to not wanting to leave. Like a jewel, when you look in it, you find new and different colors every way you turn it, the New Britain Museum of Art was filled with pleasant surprises, and absolutely talented artists.
The piece that I chose to focus on was not the most captivating piece in the museum; however, it spoke to me as soon as I saw it. I can only imagine that it did so because of the current speed of my life. The piece, entitled “Sunset on Sea” was created in 1872, by John Frederick Kensett. The medium used is oil on canvas. The frame was gold and ornate which enhanced the impact that the painting had on me. As I walked in the room, I knew I would be writing on this piece. Its stillness grabbed me immediately. I was drawn to the colors which reminded me of my nights in Africa. The colors blended seamlessly. As I moved towards the painting, I realized that the water was not. The water was just as still as the painting hanging on the wall. The brilliant sun pushing its way through the center of the colorful clouds pulled me closer to the center of the painting, deeper into the sea. I almost cried. My life has been moving at an unprecedented speed, and as much as I want it to slow down it does not. As I looked at the “Sunset on Sea” I was forced to stop. Stop. I sat and listened to my breath. I let time stop in my own world as I let everything else buzz around me. With my senses heightened, I could hear the children laughing on the stairs in the hall. I could hear the air move as my fiancé passed through it. I could smell the museum, and see time absolutely stop as I stared at the blessing hanging on the wall. Even as I type now, I hold back tears, because I know that that painting was a miracle; an unexpected blessing of the greatest magnitude because I needed that very thing at that very moment. I needed life to slow down so I could enjoy it. The experience that I had while looking at the painting probably contributed to the fabulous time that I had throughout the rest of the museum.

The artist, Kensett, had several paintings in the gallery. The information that the museum shared noted that Kensett made 38 paintings throughout the summer of 1872. The collection was entitled, “The Last Summer’s Work.” The soothing pieces were thought to have been made to combat the cruelty of the Civil War devastating the country. The collection which was discovered after Kensett’s death was exhibited at an auction sale of his work. Reverend Dr. Samuel Osgood leaves the most fitting quote describing the painting as “…no land or sail, no figure, and not even a noticeable cloud to give peculiar effect, or a rock to provoke the dash of waves. It is pure light and water, a bridal of the sea and sky.”